Professional Development

Ten middle school science teachers were recently selected for a professional development and networking program led by researchers and education leaders in Kentucky that aims to reach and inspire future scientists.

Los Angeles math teacher and tutor Huzefa Kapadia has created eight catchy music videos that explain fundamental and sometimes complicated math concepts, such as permutations and combinations, slope intercepts and the quadratic formula.

Sixty-five percent of educators expressed confidence in using digital technology in their classrooms, a 7 percent increase over last year, according to a recent survey commissioned by education and publishing company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Mining two years’ worth of expert feedback, a nonprofit has identified six root causes to more than 100 issues facing STEM education today. The resulting “Grand Challenges” interactive map is a two-year project from 100Kin10 based on input from teachers, principals, nonprofit leaders, researchers, policymakers, union representatives and other education stakeholders within its network.

With more than 1.3 million positions in computer and mathematical occupations expected to be open by 2022, the Kentucky Department of Education, Amazon Web Services, Project Lead the Way and others are taking action to build a pipeline of talent for a cloud-enabled future workforce.

A professional development program operating in rural Maine was recently awarded a $1.85 million grant from the National Science Foundation to turn its hybrid video coaching program into an entirely online format. The Afterschool Coaching for Rural Educators in STEM teaches educators as well as librarians how to bring out-of-school STEM learning opportunities into their communities.

Classroom technology company Boxlight has been selected as the convening agency for the Georgia STEM Girls Collaborative, which works with schools, informal educators, educational programs, businesses and industries that are committed to boosting girls’ engagement in STEM.

Cyberattacks appear to be on the rise; however, young professionals equipped with computer science (CS) skills to combat those threats are not growing at the same pace as the need. That’s the assessment from various recent sources and reports, from news sites to companies that track cybersecurity.

Framing computer science education in a way that interests both teachers and students could help boost the number of teachers seeking computer science certification and increase STEM achievement across K–12.